A Response from Senator Rand Paul about Homeland Security‏

I recently wrote to Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky about my concerns with Homeland Security (TSA) and FEMA. FEMA recently graduated about 230 "students" in Vicksberg, Mississippi stating they were trained for emergency situations. The students were hand picked from Obama's Ameri Corps (gov't funded: remember that?). FEMA comes under control of the Department of Homeland Security during "National Emergencies". I asked why do they need tons of ammunition and armored vehicles if they are there to assist victims of natural disasters? I also told him that more and more of our bureocracies are reminding me of Hitler's NAZI movement. Now we have Hitler Youth being trained by FEMA!!! Are they being trained in the use of weapons against American citizens? Recall that during Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans that the National Guard was confiscating people guns and ammo!!!

Sounds unbelievable but read the Senator's response to me and decide for yourselves.

Thank you for contacting me regarding your privacy concerns with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). I appreciate hearing your thoughts on this issue.

Since the creation of DHS in 2002, its size and scope has grown exponentially, and its policies invade Americans' privacy on a daily basis. In addition to its use of invasive full-body scanners and pat-downs at airports, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has started deploying new Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (VIPR) teams to patrol and perform random inspections at transportation facilities in major cities and along interstate highways.

DHS also maintains over 70 fusion centers around the nation for the collection and sharing of intelligence related to potential terrorist threats. The fusion centers are shrouded in secrecy and are subject to little oversight or transparency. Reports issued by some of the fusion centers have warned that the possession of "Don't Tread on Me" flags, third-party or independent political paraphernalia, and the purchase of meals ready-to-eat (MREs) or other surplus military goods are warning signs of potential extremism and radicalization. I do not believe that the federal government should be profiling its citizens on the basis of legal purchases or the exercise of constitutionally protected speech.

I also do not believe that protecting Americans from the threat of terrorism involves a unilateral sacrifice of privacy and first amendment rights. Rest assured I will continue to hold DHS responsible for its actions and fight for national security policies that protect our civil liberties.

Once more, thank you for sharing your thoughts. Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of assistance in the future. I look forward to hearing from you again.

I'm not trying to criticize Rand, they all do it. I wrote to Marco Rubio about pharmaceutical company liability and received a letter back thanking me for my interest in "animal rights". WTF? It's obvious to me that a bunch of students/interns skim correspondence and shoot off a response prewritten. We saw much of the same with Audit the Fed requests.

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"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know Peace." - Jimi Hendrix

More and more Liberty lovers are getting back on board with Rand. Some were blind stricken with the Romney endorsement, and wouldn't see it for the politicking that it was.

His voting record speaks for itself. People will bring up that sanctions bill he voted yes to, but he was the only Senator to vote no on giving the President the ability to do "whatever is necessary" against Iran just a month ago.

You forget that nobody was objecting to a No Fly Zone at the time, except Ron. Beck, Hannity and others only made their objection later. For this reason, it is plausible to me that that Rand, assuming he is an opportunist, had no problem with the vote. Even if privately objected, he might have felt (as is his MO on other votes) that it wasn't worth making a fight. I am dubious of the "slipped in" theory especially since Rand, whatever his faults, is no fool and presumably would have been on guard during the interventionist atmosphere that surrounded that vote.

BTW, has Rand ever claimed that he didn't know what was going on in the hours and day after the vote? If someone had done this to me, I'd be screaming bloody murder as soon as it was announced.

Rand's meaningless amendment is not an accomplishment, neither is filibustering or all the other lip service you listed.

The truth is Rand has ZERO accomplishments. Besides, Presidents ignore the Constitutional requirement for a Congressional declaration of war, why the hell would a meaningless amendment by a first term Senator be followed?

and I'm not justifying anything here but it is really tough, IF, you are pushing Liberty to get the rest of the neocon warmongering socialist appointed thugs in Washington to back anything that doesn't benefit them or their special interest buddies. (which does really wind up benefiting them in the end too)

Since you obviously are Mr Wizard and know better than anyone how easy it is to change things ...

We appoint you to go to the Beltway and highhandedly whip it all into shape.

Go on. We'll back you. What do you need?

Dictator powers? Sure, no problem, I'm sure everyone on the DP will vote to give them to you. You are obviously a benevolent, wise individual. I'm sure you'll give them up when your done fixing it all.

Maybe you only need to take a loaded pistol up there and wave it in everyone's face.

Damn. I really wish you would have done something sooner. With losers like Rand up there .. wasting time ..